The Salina Stockade had been rolling early on this season, but they got a little taste of their own medicine Thursday afternoon, as the Roswell Invaders downed the Stockade, 14-9. Roswell put together a pair of four-run innings as Ausar Rankin drove in five. That ruined a big day for Aaron Takacs, who recorded four hits, homered twice, and drove in four.

The Invaders took command of this game early, putting up four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Three consecutive walks started the frame, and Rankin followed with a double clearing the bases. He came around when Logan Rycraft reached on an error to make it 4-0.

It stayed that way until the third when both teams plated a run. In the top half of the inning, Takacs doubled and scored on a one-out double by Brian Dansereau. In the bottom of the third, Rycraft scored on a sacrifice fly to restore the four-run lead.

The Invaders developed a pattern of responding right away when Salina got on the board. That was on display in the fourth as well. In the top half of the inning, Takacs delivered a two run, two-out double to cut the deficit to two. However, in the bottom half of the inning, Rycraft brought home two with a two-out triple to make it a 7-3 game.

Roswell added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth. With Daniel Arroyo and Coleton Horner on, Rankin lined a ball into the gap. Both runners came around to score as Rankin raced into third with a triple.

The Stockade cut into their deficit in the sixth with three runs. Jacob Lentz crushed a two-run homer, and Takacs followed with his first homer of the year. That made it 9-6. An inning later they added another run on a bases loaded walk to Khalid Cox and Salina looked like they were about to make a move.

However, Roswell delivered a big response in the bottom of the seventh, recording their second four-run inning of the game. Ben Tingen led off with a walk and scored when Horner doubled two batters later. With two down, Rankin walked to keep the inning alive. That brought Ian Yetsko to the plate, who clubbed a three-run blast to move the lead to six.

The Stockade added single runs over each of the next two innings. That included Takacs hitting his second homerun of the game to leadoff the top of the eighth. Unfortunately, Roswell responded in the bottom half of the inning when Scott Martinez led off with a homer.

Joe Slocum earned the victory for Roswell. Tyler Schmidt recorded his first save of the season. Rankin was 3-4 with three runs scored and five RBI. Yetsko was 2-5 with two runs and three RBI.

Takacs had a career game, going 4-5 with three runs scored, four RBI, and two homers. He also doubled twice. Tejeda had three hits.

Boxscore

By Robert Pannier